February 1, 2026 • 43 mins
Tonight, On Your Health First, Dr. Galati spends a couple minutes talking about your gut. He has Physician Assistant Stephanie Johnson join the show to talk about education and her role as a PA. They also talk about sleep, hydration, and healthy breakfast ideas.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Initial life sequences coming to you live from Houston, Texas,
home to the world's largest medical.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Center and ranch grades everything looking to.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
This is Your Health First, the most beneficial health program
on radio with doctor Joe Gillotti. During the next hour,
you'll learn about health, wellness and the provention of disease.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here's your host, doctor Joe Bellotti. Well a good
Sunday evening to everybody. Doctor Joe Gallotti, You're tuned into
your Health First every Sunday between the hour of seven
and eight pm. As we say every weekend. Our mission
(00:58):
is to make you better consumers of healthcare. Very simple,
and knowledge is power, power of health and wellness. And
dare I say happiness? Have you ever come across a
person that's chronically ill? They're not that happy? You have
(01:23):
your health, you're happy. My mother would always say, and
this is one of the great quotes that she had,
and she would say, as long as I had my health,
I would be the happy idiot, the happy idiot being healthy.
All right, to follow us along, Doctor Joe Galotti dot com,
(01:44):
d R J O E. G A L A t
I dot com soner for our newsletter look at all
of our past programs, lots and lots of health and
wellness information. Our podcast, you Tube channel, our practice website
for Liver Specialists of Texas is available there, so one
(02:09):
stop shop get all the information. So on the program
tonight Stephanie Johnson. She is a physician assistant at our practice,
Liver Specialists of Texas, and she is going to come
on and talk about some health habits to start thinking
about as the new year is rolling on. Keeping in mind,
and I've said this multiple times, by the time we
(02:32):
hear we're here the latter part of just January, really
the end of January, most resolutions are down the toilet,
so you have to make habits too. That will stick.
The one topic I want to get to and we're
(02:52):
not going to have too much time here now in
this segment, Stephanie's on hold. I want to spend a
little bit of time talking about your gut. And if
you follow the literature, both the scientific literature and the
lay literature things online, the gut, your intestinal health is
(03:14):
really becoming a bit of a premium. Lots of people
are talking about it, which is not a bad thing
considering I am a liver specialist and a gastro neurologist. Yes,
I think we all have to pay more attention to
our gut because when you look at the number of
people that are walking around with intestinal complaints, it is
(03:36):
quite amazing. And when you have chronic disease i e. Obesity,
i e. Diabetes, you get a lot of gut interactions,
a lot of gut symptoms. And so I think you,
you the listener, you the consumer. The more you know
about your gut health, the better and happier. Be the
(04:00):
one thing I'll say here before we take a break, fiber.
It cannot be overstated that we need to eat more
fiber in our diet. And I'm not talking about fiber
gummy bears. I'm not talking about fiber supplements, though they
are sort of okay. I want you to get your
fiber through the food you eat. We're talking about fresh fruits,
(04:26):
fresh vegetables, things like chia, seeds, flax seed, wheat brand
and all of these fiber rich foods like beans, nuts, legomes.
It really is important. So much fiber is, in a
sense fuel for your gut. You don't have fuel, engine
(04:50):
runs sort of bad, it starts to knock. I think
you know what that all means. All right, what we're
gonna do here? Time goes fast this segment, Stephanie Johnson's
coming up. Sorry I had to rush you through the
first segment. Here, Stephanie Johnson, our physician assistant at Liver
Specialist of Texas, is going to shed some light on
(05:13):
habits that we should all be thinking about. Don't forget
doctor Joeglotti dot com is our website. Stay tuned. We
will be right back every Sunday between seven and APM.
You should be tuned into your health first, raising your
health IQ and making you better consumers of health care.
(05:36):
That is our simple goal. And as I was saying
a little early on the program tonight on the air,
Stephanie Johnson, she is a physician assistant with our practice
and I have the pleasure of working with her every day. Stephanie,
welcome to the program, and I'm eager to hear what
(05:57):
you're going to say about some health tips or some
would say health hacks as we get off to the
new year. So welcome and welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here, happy
to have this conversation.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Absolutely so. You know, one thing for the public, most
are hopefully going to their doctor, their clinic, their practitioners,
and they may see a physician assistant, they may see
a nurse practitioner. And you know, sometimes it becomes a
little annoying to me where they are seeing a physician
(06:35):
assistant and they say, oh, my nurse practitioner, they're seeing
a nurse practitioner and they say, oh my PA. So
to set the record straight, and I do believe that
having this conversation really requires almost a more lengthy discussion,
which we could have you back another time, but explain
to everybody a physician assistant, the education and the role
(06:59):
that one would play.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Sure, and I totally understand the confusion advanced practice providers.
It's a relatively newer role that's exponentially growing in popularity
and population. So there are a lot more of us,
I would say, than physicians. We exist to expand healthcare.
(07:24):
We exist to work collaboratively with physicians. Training is a
PA is about a three year master's program, and then
we can start practicing. I don't take any offense when
someone says are you a nurse a nurse practitioner, because
I understand that this is not something everyone's familiar with.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Right right, And I do think that for the public,
the medical going public, as you had said, the role
of what we call advanced practice providers, which is essential
nurse practitioners and pas sort of under one umbrella many
many practices, a simple family practice or a more complicated
(08:10):
practice like ours where we're dealing with very, very sick
liver patients and transplant I would say, would almost not
be able to exist or function without the assistance of
PAS and nurse practitioners like yourself.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Absolutely I agree, and you know, thank you for the compliment.
But it's such a team effort. It's not just us,
it's physicians and other support staff and managers. But it
surely takes a team to be able to deliver healthcare
well to a large population, right.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
And I would think for patients that are tuning in tonight,
when you look at the care that you're getting from
wherever you're going, it is made up of physicians, it
is made up of nurse practitioners, it is made up
of pas, and collaboratively, everybody is working on your behalf.
So you know, you know, we always see people. I
(09:05):
don't want to see the nurse practitioner. I don't want
to see the PA. You know, I want to see
the doctor. I understand that they're consumers and they're paying
and they could see it. But really having the whole
team work seamlessly really is the key. So just a
that that is your public service announcement for tonight, Stephanie.
So we had talked and you are very very health
(09:30):
conscious outside of the work you do taking care of
about patients and educating them and educating families, but you
yourself are really quite committed to your own health and wellness.
And so one of the topics that you had presented
to me were, you know, these healthy habits to get
(09:51):
the new year off, and we could talk about these
in August or September, it doesn't have to be, you know,
January with the new year. But why don't you go
ahead and list off and explain the five healthy habits
that you think everybody should adopt.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Absolutely So, when I started to think about this, I
think our brain initially goes into this all or nothing mentality,
right that I'm going to overhaul my life in twenty
twenty six. I'm going to wake up at five am,
meditate for an hour to a work out, have a
great breakfast. But is that realistic? It's not for the
(10:31):
majority of people. So we don't need a full life
overhaul to feel better. We need small, tangible, health promoting
habits that will compound every day.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Right, Yeah, it is. And I think that the reason
all of these, you know, New Year's resolutions fail by
about this time, is because you buy it off too much.
You just cannot You cannot change twenty years of sort
of bad habits and think that's going to happen. So
why don't you rist absolutely, why don't you list off
(11:04):
your favorite five or so that everybody should at least
start thinking about.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yes, So, first off, sleep, Sleep is this habit that
makes all of the other healthy habits possible. Right when
we are rested, we wake up and we make better choices.
We wake up. If we don't sleep, we wake up
and we're creating sugar and carbohydrates. We might feel stressed,
(11:32):
we get this brain fog, we don't perform well. But
a good night of sleep for most of us, that's
seven to nine hours, right, we'll set the foundation for
a healthy day.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
And what do you say to people that may not
think that this is all part of their health. And
I would say, and we've talked about along the program
before more and more chronic disease, everything from diabetes to
hypertension to cardiac arrhythmias to diabetes is tied back to
not enough sleep.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Absolutely, if we don't sleep, our stress hormones will increase,
will rely more on caffeine, we eat more calories. There
are very clear studies that show that we will eat more.
Our hunger hormone grellin will increase if we don't sleep.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Right now, you know, I think one point that you
could chat about is when you're tired and you're run down,
You're not going to be that enthusiastic to go to
work and then go to the gym or get on
your bike and go for a ride. You're not going
to be that interested in spending thirty or forty minutes
(12:44):
trying to make dinner tonight. You're going to say, I
am so pooped out, I'm just going to go to
the drive through or called door dash.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
And that leads beautifully into my second habit. Ok So, breakfast, breakfast,
I think on breakfast, biggest fan. Okay, I love a
good breakfast because I've seen the impacts in my body
if maybe I'm running low on groceries, or I pick
up a muffin or a toaster waffle, I will crash
(13:14):
in two hours. And I think everyone listening can relate
to that exactly. But if I take an extra five minutes,
I crack some inexpensive eggs, maybe a piece of whole
wheat toast, I will be satiated. And I think everyone
listening will realize that they can reflect, and they realize
they too are satiated, have stable blood sugar, make better decisions,
(13:39):
and you can roll into lunch and not be a
ravenous animal.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Right right, And you know, actually the things, the things
you're talking about here, and and certain ideas for breakfast.
First of all, you're you're you're you're clear, and I
would agree with this. Stay away from the bagels, the muffins,
the you know, the pastries. Where surrounded by pastries. You
even go in for a coffee at Starbucks and there
(14:04):
is a mound of pastries and you're like.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Oh, they're a highly process so they never expire.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, am I going to be weak today? I'll get
my coffee. You know what, I deserve a muffin, No,
don't do it. But really, I think the best components
of a breakfast that are going to make you feel
full so that you're not crashing in two hours or
you're starving and then you go to the candy machine.
Is protein, things that are based in protein. And actually,
(14:30):
and we've talked about this recently, the new food pyramid
really is stressing protein. So you talk about eggs, I
love to talk about Greek yogurt, protein smoothies, cottage cheese,
and leftover dinner, which is never a bad idea, which
may have a piece of chicken, a piece of fish,
(14:50):
a little bit of beef and you just feel yourself
that way. What do you say? And you hear this
almost every day from our patients. I am too tired,
I am too busy to stop for breakfast. And I'm
sure people listening tonight are like, yeah, you know, I'm
sort of that way too. What do you say to
them when they just say, look, I'm checking out, I
(15:12):
don't have the time for breakfast.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I would say that it doesn't have to be complicated,
it doesn't have to be an hour ordeal. So I'm
a creature of habit every day without fail. I have
this little silicone egg bite maker, and I crack four
eggs into each hole and it's ninety seconds in the microwave.
Pop them out into a paper towel. That's four eggs,
probably twenty to thirty grams of protein, and it took
(15:35):
a minute and a half.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah. I think there is a general sense that making
these meals or I don't want to call it a snack,
but these smaller, sort of condensed meals take so much
more effort, and people just wig out and say I
can't do it. But when you break it down into
small pieces, it's.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Quite easy to do, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
All right, So number three, what's your third hell tack
for a healthy.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
U Number three is staying hydrated. So we've slept well,
we've had a great breakfast. Now we're going to remember
that our eight ounces of coffee at breakfast and our
bottle of water at lunch is not enough. Right, It's
very I mean, it's so easy. And I'm guilty of
this too, getting busy and saying, man, I have not
(16:26):
had consumed any water today, And even just minimal dehydration
can have such tangible effects. You might have a little
brain fog, you might be a little more headachey, you
feel hungrier, and the reality is you're just thirsty. So
I and I think are I think you've seen all
(16:48):
these gigantic water bottles that seem to be very trendy.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Now, yes, maybe a little obnoxious, but it's okay.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
A little obnoxious, yes, but jump on the obnoxious water
bottle whack r. Just sit throughout the day. You will
your body will feel the effects. And I think as
it relates to healthy eating and portion control, you're also
going to eat when you're hungry and not when you're
thirsty exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And you know, we see a lot of patients that
are they work out in the field or they're outside seals,
and they're driving from point A to point B to
point C to point D, and well, you know, we'll
bring up the idea of of what do you do
while you're in the car between stops? And many times
it's they will pull into a gas station in by
(17:38):
a thirty two ounce gatorade or something like that, which
is really sort of defeating the purpose. But it's so
easy to at least attempt to pack with you three
or four bottles of water. And you could have a
little carry toad, put a little a little bit of
a ice pack in it, and you always have these
things available, I think, and I'm sure you could comment
(18:02):
on this. When you are when you are high and dry,
you have no food at your disposal, you don't have
anything to drink, the lowest common denominator. You're going for
the junk, you're going for the machine, and you make
bad choices. So it is as you said, and talk
about this planning. Planning really is the biggest obstacle here.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Yes, as we were talking about earlier, these things can
be simple, but you have to think about it. You
have to give it a little premeditation. So I'm gonna
really throw it on the audience. But if we fail
to plan, we plan to fail.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I would say that, Yeah, I mean I think plan
plan to fail. Yeah, No, I think that's well said.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah, And that really leads me to into our next topic.
So rewinding, We've slept well, we've had a good breakfast,
We've made sure to drink water throughout the day. Lunch
time rolls around, and I think you and I have
heard so many times, well, well, I work and I
don't have time to go home and make lunch, so
(19:08):
I just go through the drive through. And okay, I
understand that, but I bet you have a lunch box
or your office might even have a refrigerator. So just
planning to bring a lunch and again, it does not
have to be that complicated. I try to practice what
I preach here. I have a turkey Monday through Friday
(19:32):
every day. It takes me two minutes to make. In
the morning. While I'm eating my breakfast, you have two
slices of quality bread, some turkey, whatever, lunch meat you're
feeling a little lettuce, maybe any other vegetable you have
in your fridge, and stick it in a lunch box.
And right there you have good quality carbohydrates, you have fiber,
(19:53):
and you have protein, and you have vegetables hidden in
there the simple sandwich.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And you know what I so much is that people
will work and depending on where they work, they may
work in a plant and it's not easy to get out.
But usually what happens there is some volunteer that will
say I'm making a lunch run, I am heading to
Chick fil A, am going somewhere, And basically you're turning
(20:19):
over your nutrition, your health intake to somebody else to say, oh,
oh everybody's getting that. Oh just get one more, get
one more, you know, deluxe burger, sandwich or whatever, and
then it comes back and you got the fries and
the hamburger and you feel terrible. So if you can expensive,
(20:42):
oh lord yeah, expensive, it totally is expensive. But to
take a little bit of planning and you and I
do it. And so it's not to say, oh, look, Stephanie's,
you know, such the ideal citizen or Joe Goilotti's doing.
But I think when you start doing this, it is
(21:03):
not that hard to do. And it's really all of this.
Your health depends on it. So when you're you know,
you're you're you're diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes,
you're overweight, you're having complications, the easiest thing is to
you know, dive in and you know, try to fix this. Stephanie,
(21:23):
what we're gonna do. We're gonna take a quick break here,
all right, you're really got so much to say. All Right,
we're gonna take a quick break with Stephanie Johnson, a
physician assistant with our practice Livery Specialists of Texas. Stay tuned.
A few more health tips to get out to everybody.
(21:44):
We'll break back. We appreciate your staying with us this
Sunday evening. Were here every Sunday between seven and a pm.
Don't forget to go to doctor Joegalotti dot com. You
could send me a message if you've got comments about
Stephanie Johnson and her health ideas. If we're missing anything,
(22:07):
send me a message doctor Joeglotti dot com. All right, Stephanie,
well we you know, just to recap if somebody is
just joining us, we're talking about sleep. We're talking about
a good breakfast with protein, staying away from the triple
frappucino sugar lated coffee drink. By the way, do you
(22:30):
drink coffee? Do you drink coffee?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
How do you take it? Are you just a you know,
just straight up? Or do you like the fancy fancy drink?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Two percent milk in my coffee? So either black coffee
or coffee with a little bit of milk. I don't
like it sweet, but a little creamy is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Okay. We are talking about hydration, very very important. And
the last thing, the fourth health ideal here is really planning.
And I think, Stephanie, it is very fair to say
that all of our health and wellness is somehow tied
(23:10):
back to healing, to planning, not healing, well, we are healing,
but to planning, because you could look planning as far
as what time you go to sleep, planning as far
as do you have the ingredients to make breakfast or
to take a lunch, or to have a dinner when
(23:33):
you get home. And I know you said before when
you go grocery shopping, it has to be intentional. You
can't just walk in there and start plucking things off
the shelves. You really have to almost go in and say, Okay,
I'm shopping for three days, I'm shopping for seven days.
What are the seven breakfasts that I'm going to make?
(23:54):
Is it eggs every day? Is it oatmeal every day?
Explain that a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yeah, And Georgor Glotti, would you say that we have
become maybe a little bit spoiled? Dare I say that totally? Yeah,
in the fact that thinking every meal has to be
freshly made, five stars, right, gourmet, delicious, and definitely no leftovers, right,
I think we've become a little bit spoiled in that way.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Is as just as a group, well, you know, last
I'm trying to think when was it?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
What was.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yesterday? Was Friday? Okay, Friday night? I'm losing track of time.
Friday night, I got home a little ahead of my
wife and she was tied up. I wasn't quite sure
when she was going to come home. But one little
pet peeve of mine, I like to eat dinner sort
of at around the same time. I don't like to
(24:50):
eat late, you know, like.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Go I'm the same way, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
So I'm going to try, you know, between five and
six thirty. I'm going to try out of dinner. But anyway,
I I knew she probably was not going to be home,
and I said, and I texted her and I said, look,
I'm going to make something ahead. I'll have something on
the side for you just in case, you know, you
don't have anything. So all I did. All I did.
(25:13):
We had some leftover pasta from the day before, and
so all I did was I heated that up in
a pan. I took a can of sardines to ninety
nine to ninety nine at Central Market, broke that, broke
(25:34):
that into the frying pan, little olive oil. I heated
up the the leftover pasta, mixed it all together, threw
a little bit of garlic in there, and then I
added in some leftover fresh tomato. Sauce that I had
warmed that up, plated it out, and five to eight
(25:55):
minutes I had leftover pasta. I had my Omega three
fatty acids, and my superfood sardines and I was happy.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
That was it. And that was probably three dollars and
fifty cents.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah not, yes, yes, I would. I would say that.
So are you going to find that at a diner
or a restaurant, you know, sardines and leftover pasta? Probably not.
But it was nutritious, it was easy, and it was good.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yes, And there is nothing wrong with something that might
be a little bit unconventional that tastes fine to you,
right and is within your nutritional goals and budget. I
think we need to become a lot more flexible with.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
That, right. And I would say the one thing, and
this goes back to my college days, making a menu.
Making a menu can write it out, or you could
have it in your head to say, Okay, Monday night,
we're going to have you know, baked chicken. Tuesday night,
we'll have enough chicken. We'll put it on a salad.
The next day, we're going to make a soup or whatever.
(26:56):
So it it all comes down to planning, all Rightnumber five,
what's up your sleeve in number five?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yes, so we've talked a lot about nutrition. Number five
is movement, exercise, physical activity, whatever we want to call it.
Movement is medicine. And it's so essential that we move
our bodies every day in some form. And again, like food,
(27:25):
we don't have to overcomplicate it. Movement does not have
to be heated upside down yoga class. Movement can be
taken the dog around the block, or kicking a soccer
ball around with your kids outside. Sure, and whatever that
means for you, just this simple fact is that your
(27:45):
body is moving. Maybe your breath picks up, or your
heart rate picks up, your muscles are moving, but maybe
whatever that is for you, a little bit every day
is so health promoting.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, And I would say for people that are not
exercising a lot right now, you don't want to get hurt.
You want to gradually increase over weeks to months. And again,
you cannot make up in a week bad habits that
you neglected for years to think, oh, you have to exercise,
(28:17):
and I heard this Stephanie and doctor Galotti and I
have to And then you heard yourself. I think it is,
and here it's planning. You have to ride it out
to say, Okay, for these two weeks, I'm going to
just ride my bike for fifteen minutes after work and
then move it up to twenty and then on the
weekend I'm going to get adventurous and go for a
(28:38):
forty five or fifty minute bike ride on a trail.
So far, and there's no doubt that every study for
the past forty years is going to say exercise cuts
down on your risk of dementia and alzheimer it's going
to cut down on the risk of diabetes and heart disease,
chronic disease, and so it's important. But I would say also,
(29:01):
which you're familiar with some degree of strength training, you
have to I don't want to say pump iron, but
you have to use strength training in some at some aspect.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yes, our skeletal muscle is so protective and increased skeletal
muscle is directly tied to increase in lifespan. You don't
have to go out and be Arnold Schwarzenegger and learn
all of the Olympic lifts.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I've talked with patients who work in construction and they're
and they're lifting and they're pushing and they're pulling all day.
That's beautiful, right, It can be. It can be simple
gardening using a shovel, using a rake, the pushing and
the pulling. That's exactly what we want.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Right And I would say it's there's so many resources
out there for people to get advice on these various exercises,
be it strength training, but it is something that without
a doubt, the sort of the the the hurdle to
start exercising should be pretty pretty low, but it is important. Now,
(30:08):
I did ask you for a bonus. We went over
the five and we're giving you an extra few minutes here.
What would you say, is that special six that you
really did.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I'm so glad you did because this this bonus wouldn't
have meet the top five, but the more that I
reflect on it, it should. My bonus is it's social connection. Okay,
social relationships, and I think everyone listening can attest to
this are really declining, and there's data to prove this.
(30:45):
As we're more ingrained in social media and in computers,
we have a lot of interaction through a screen, interaction
through typed words, but we're lacking the deep interpersonal connection
that is linked with lower rates of depression, lower stress,
longer lifespan, and just correlated with general better overall health.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
No, that is true. I find that there are more
people isolated, living alone, not really connecting. And the one thing.
So a lot of our patients will say, the reason
I do not cook, the reason I do not make
a scratch meal most nights is because it's just me.
It's just me, and you know what I tell them,
(31:33):
and you know we have to work to try and
help our patients. I say, look, do you have any friends.
If you live in an apartment, do you have other
colleagues friends in the apartment, Make dinner with them a
couple of nights a week, get them to get say
come to my place, I'll come to your place. Or
(31:53):
if there's a common space where there's a little grill outside,
try and do that so that you're eating together, you
have conversation, you're enjoying a meal, joining enjoying company.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yes, And I would almost like to challenge the audience
as we wrap up, to use this bonus of social
connectivity and tie it into something else we were talking about.
Maybe it's exercise, go on a walk with a friend,
instead of being seated on the couch talking on the phone.
Say hey, it's Saturday morning, the weather's nice, Let's go
(32:27):
on a walk around the park while we catch up.
It's so beneficial. It's two birds one stone. You're also
going to be more engaged in the conversation. You're going
to have a great experience. And that is just so
health promoting doing something.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I think the other thing with social connectivity, which
is people take it for granted or they don't realize
how important it is. We need a pretty good level
of accountability. So if you are starting, you are starting
a new nutrition plan where you're going to be more
(33:07):
engaged with shopping, doing a little bit of meal prepping,
some of the things you were talking about. You have
to be accountable to some other person to say a Stephanie,
how is your meal prepping going? What tell me about
amala've made? You've tried sardines and pasta tonight? Or absolutely
you know your workout routine. So you have to draw
(33:29):
people into your inner circle in a way for the
outcome of better health. I'm going to give you the
final word, Stephanie, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Absolutely, So, just as we close, going back to the
fact that getting healthy doing things that are healthier does
not have to be complicated, right. In fact, it should
not be complicated. So making things simple, a good night's sleep,
a really solid protein rich breakfast, sipping on your water
(34:05):
throughout the day, being intentional about what you're going to
eat throughout the day, getting a little physical activity in it,
and remembering to throughout your day, to reach out to
your tribe, to talk with people at work about things
that are not work related. To strike at connections at
a grocery store. That is the most help promoting tip
(34:27):
that I can leave the audience with.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I would one hundred percent agree. All right, Stephanie Johnson,
physician assistant at Liver Specialists of Texas. We will be
hearing more of you this year. So thanks for tonight
and keep up the good earth wonderful Thank you, Stephanie,
good night, All right, everybody. Final segment for tonight's Your
(34:52):
Health First is coming up. Don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot com.
And if you have any comments about what Stephanie said
other ideas, we certainly want to hear from you doctor
Joeglotti dot com. Stay tuned, we'll bright back. Final segment
of this week's Your Health First. I want to thank
Stephanie Johnson for coming on giving her insight on various
(35:14):
health and wellness strategies. It really is important, and I
would say if you take anything away from what she said,
it's it's going to be planning. Plan what you're going
to eat, Plan your exercise, Plan that you have enough water,
(35:36):
Plan that you shop properly, Plan that you get to
bed early or earlier, and you plan to have a
good night sleep. Plan that exercise and shopping is all
part of it. Sounds easy, but if you plan, you
(35:58):
can do it all right. In the first segment of
the program, we were chatting about gut health, and I
would like to think that all of you, all of
the great Your Health First listeners, should be PhDs in
gut health. I do, I do truly believe that. So
(36:23):
we talked early about fiber. The magic number for fiber
is thirty five to forty grams of dietary fiber a day.
You cannot get this by going to the store tonight
or tomorrow and just packing in the fiber. You're going
to have to gradually plan. Need I say that to
(36:44):
incorporate that amount of fiber into your diet through the day.
Startwood breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner,
maybe a light snack after dinner, not too late. We
don't want you to go in to bed on a
full stomach. But fiber is key. It nourishes the intestinal microbiome,
(37:08):
the trillion or so bacteria that keep us healthy, that
fight inflammation and keep us healthy. If you little hack here,
you will get about seventeen grams of fiber with a
serving of beans or lagomes, black beans, black eyed peas,
kidney beans, garbonzo beans, lentils. So if you have two
(37:31):
servings of beans a day, that's thirty four grams right
there your home. But again, you want to get the berries,
the apples, the pair is, the avocado, the artichokes, all
that good stuff into your diet. But you have to
start slow. That's the main thing. Number two. Outside of
fiber for good gut health, you want to eat fermented foods.
(37:53):
Now you're probably saying, what the heck of fermented foods, yogurt, keifer, kombucha.
I've started drinking kombucha lately, and these fomented foods can
really you know, people like to say. It seeds your
gut with beneficial bacteria, and they also have compounds that
(38:16):
reduce inflammation throughout the body and maintain a healthy gut lining.
I think if you're not eating Greek yogurt, start to
do it. Now. A lot of people drink keifer. I
will buy keifer and throw it into my smoothie. I
don't put that much in. I'll put maybe I don't know,
(38:37):
half cup or so changes the uh taste of it.
You could add a little honey, a little fruit to
it to take take the edge off. It is a
little sharp in taste. A keifer, all right. Number three
for good health, follow the Mediterranean diet. Now why is that, Well,
(38:59):
it's it will always emphasize fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legomes, nuts.
These are all things high in fiber, fish, olive, oil, herbs.
Nothing processed here. And Number one, lots of research has
(39:20):
been done over the past forty years on the Mediterranean
diet cutting down on hypertension, diabetes, lower your cholesterol. And
they found that people that are on the Mediterranean diet
have less symptoms related to irritable bowel, which is a
(39:42):
good thing. And of course we know a Mediterranean diet
with all those fiber, the fruits, the vegetables, the whole grains,
the nuts, the beans, is going to cut down on
chronic constipation, which is a whole other can of worms
to open up. Number three for a good gut health,
regular sleep is what Stephanie said, and a breakfast routine,
(40:10):
So you have to keep this circadian rhythm going with
your brain and your gut. When your sleep, your gut
is quiet. When you wake up, your intestines start contracting
and moving around. Then many times when you get up
you have a bowel movement. So if your sleep schedule
is inconsistent, which means you go to sleep and wake
(40:33):
up at different times, this may trigger a worsen gut
symptoms like constipation, diarrhea, of bloating, and reflux. And so
getting that sleep pattern into a regular routine. And also
it's going to help if you have breakfast soon after
you wake up, because eating will stimulate your gut to contract.
(40:56):
The whole host of hormones and nerves that get stimulated
in get sleep, eat at a regular time. And number five,
exercise movement helps the gut move walking, jogging, swimming, muscular contractions.
It is all good for your gut. Lastly, well not
(41:19):
really lastly, but number six, go easy on alcohol. Alcohol
really does rip up the lining of your stomach. It
could upset your small bal The less alcohol you drink,
the better your gut health is going to be. Regular
drinking will worsen or cause acid reflux, gas bloating, diarrhea,
(41:45):
worst case scenario intestinal bleeding. Alcohol puts you at list
risk for colorectal cancer. And what I do, liver disease
all part of the gut. So cut down or eliminate alcohol.
And lastly, this is our you know, sort of punch
for colon cancer. The new age for colon cancer screening
(42:11):
is at forty five, assuming you have no risk factors
or no family history. So at forty five it's not
fifty anymore. Fifty is old. It is forty five years old.
You got you have to get screened for colon cancer.
And so as we go through this, I say this
all the time. If you want to reach out to me,
go to doctor Joeglotti dot com, send me an email,
you call our office. We are here as a resource
(42:36):
for our listeners and the community to make you all
better consumers and make you all healthy. All right, thank
you very much for tuning in this Sunday. I do
hope that you all got a few takeaways from Stephanie
Johnson and the Gut Health and don't forget go to
(42:59):
our website doctor Joegilotti dot com and you know what,
seven o'clock Sunday night. Next Sunday will be back. Have
a great week.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
You've been listening to Your Health First with doctor Joe Glotti.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
For more information on this program or the content of
this program, go to your Health First dot com.
Initial life sequences coming to you live from Houston, Texas,
home to the world's largest medical.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Center and ranch grades everything looking to.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
This is Your Health First, the most beneficial health program
on radio with doctor Joe Gillotti. During the next hour,
you'll learn about health, wellness and the provention of disease.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here's your host, doctor Joe Bellotti. Well a good
Sunday evening to everybody. Doctor Joe Gallotti, You're tuned into
your Health First every Sunday between the hour of seven
and eight pm. As we say every weekend. Our mission
(00:58):
is to make you better consumers of healthcare. Very simple,
and knowledge is power, power of health and wellness. And
dare I say happiness? Have you ever come across a
person that's chronically ill? They're not that happy? You have
(01:23):
your health, you're happy. My mother would always say, and
this is one of the great quotes that she had,
and she would say, as long as I had my health,
I would be the happy idiot, the happy idiot being healthy.
All right, to follow us along, Doctor Joe Galotti dot com,
(01:44):
d R J O E. G A L A t
I dot com soner for our newsletter look at all
of our past programs, lots and lots of health and
wellness information. Our podcast, you Tube channel, our practice website
for Liver Specialists of Texas is available there, so one
(02:09):
stop shop get all the information. So on the program
tonight Stephanie Johnson. She is a physician assistant at our practice,
Liver Specialists of Texas, and she is going to come
on and talk about some health habits to start thinking
about as the new year is rolling on. Keeping in mind,
and I've said this multiple times, by the time we
(02:32):
hear we're here the latter part of just January, really
the end of January, most resolutions are down the toilet,
so you have to make habits too. That will stick.
The one topic I want to get to and we're
(02:52):
not going to have too much time here now in
this segment, Stephanie's on hold. I want to spend a
little bit of time talking about your gut. And if
you follow the literature, both the scientific literature and the
lay literature things online, the gut, your intestinal health is
(03:14):
really becoming a bit of a premium. Lots of people
are talking about it, which is not a bad thing
considering I am a liver specialist and a gastro neurologist. Yes,
I think we all have to pay more attention to
our gut because when you look at the number of
people that are walking around with intestinal complaints, it is
(03:36):
quite amazing. And when you have chronic disease i e. Obesity,
i e. Diabetes, you get a lot of gut interactions,
a lot of gut symptoms. And so I think you,
you the listener, you the consumer. The more you know
about your gut health, the better and happier. Be the
(04:00):
one thing I'll say here before we take a break, fiber.
It cannot be overstated that we need to eat more
fiber in our diet. And I'm not talking about fiber
gummy bears. I'm not talking about fiber supplements, though they
are sort of okay. I want you to get your
fiber through the food you eat. We're talking about fresh fruits,
(04:26):
fresh vegetables, things like chia, seeds, flax seed, wheat brand
and all of these fiber rich foods like beans, nuts, legomes.
It really is important. So much fiber is, in a
sense fuel for your gut. You don't have fuel, engine
(04:50):
runs sort of bad, it starts to knock. I think
you know what that all means. All right, what we're
gonna do here? Time goes fast this segment, Stephanie Johnson's
coming up. Sorry I had to rush you through the
first segment. Here, Stephanie Johnson, our physician assistant at Liver
Specialist of Texas, is going to shed some light on
(05:13):
habits that we should all be thinking about. Don't forget
doctor Joeglotti dot com is our website. Stay tuned. We
will be right back every Sunday between seven and APM.
You should be tuned into your health first, raising your
health IQ and making you better consumers of health care.
(05:36):
That is our simple goal. And as I was saying
a little early on the program tonight on the air,
Stephanie Johnson, she is a physician assistant with our practice
and I have the pleasure of working with her every day. Stephanie,
welcome to the program, and I'm eager to hear what
(05:57):
you're going to say about some health tips or some
would say health hacks as we get off to the
new year. So welcome and welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here, happy
to have this conversation.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Absolutely so. You know, one thing for the public, most
are hopefully going to their doctor, their clinic, their practitioners,
and they may see a physician assistant, they may see
a nurse practitioner. And you know, sometimes it becomes a
little annoying to me where they are seeing a physician
(06:35):
assistant and they say, oh, my nurse practitioner, they're seeing
a nurse practitioner and they say, oh my PA. So
to set the record straight, and I do believe that
having this conversation really requires almost a more lengthy discussion,
which we could have you back another time, but explain
to everybody a physician assistant, the education and the role
(06:59):
that one would play.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Sure, and I totally understand the confusion advanced practice providers.
It's a relatively newer role that's exponentially growing in popularity
and population. So there are a lot more of us,
I would say, than physicians. We exist to expand healthcare.
(07:24):
We exist to work collaboratively with physicians. Training is a
PA is about a three year master's program, and then
we can start practicing. I don't take any offense when
someone says are you a nurse a nurse practitioner, because
I understand that this is not something everyone's familiar with.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Right right, And I do think that for the public,
the medical going public, as you had said, the role
of what we call advanced practice providers, which is essential
nurse practitioners and pas sort of under one umbrella many
many practices, a simple family practice or a more complicated
(08:10):
practice like ours where we're dealing with very, very sick
liver patients and transplant I would say, would almost not
be able to exist or function without the assistance of
PAS and nurse practitioners like yourself.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Absolutely I agree, and you know, thank you for the compliment.
But it's such a team effort. It's not just us,
it's physicians and other support staff and managers. But it
surely takes a team to be able to deliver healthcare
well to a large population, right.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
And I would think for patients that are tuning in tonight,
when you look at the care that you're getting from
wherever you're going, it is made up of physicians, it
is made up of nurse practitioners, it is made up
of pas, and collaboratively, everybody is working on your behalf.
So you know, you know, we always see people. I
(09:05):
don't want to see the nurse practitioner. I don't want
to see the PA. You know, I want to see
the doctor. I understand that they're consumers and they're paying
and they could see it. But really having the whole
team work seamlessly really is the key. So just a
that that is your public service announcement for tonight, Stephanie.
So we had talked and you are very very health
(09:30):
conscious outside of the work you do taking care of
about patients and educating them and educating families, but you
yourself are really quite committed to your own health and wellness.
And so one of the topics that you had presented
to me were, you know, these healthy habits to get
(09:51):
the new year off, and we could talk about these
in August or September, it doesn't have to be, you know,
January with the new year. But why don't you go
ahead and list off and explain the five healthy habits
that you think everybody should adopt.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Absolutely So, when I started to think about this, I
think our brain initially goes into this all or nothing mentality,
right that I'm going to overhaul my life in twenty
twenty six. I'm going to wake up at five am,
meditate for an hour to a work out, have a
great breakfast. But is that realistic? It's not for the
(10:31):
majority of people. So we don't need a full life
overhaul to feel better. We need small, tangible, health promoting
habits that will compound every day.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Right, Yeah, it is. And I think that the reason
all of these, you know, New Year's resolutions fail by
about this time, is because you buy it off too much.
You just cannot You cannot change twenty years of sort
of bad habits and think that's going to happen. So
why don't you rist absolutely, why don't you list off
(11:04):
your favorite five or so that everybody should at least
start thinking about.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yes, So, first off, sleep, Sleep is this habit that
makes all of the other healthy habits possible. Right when
we are rested, we wake up and we make better choices.
We wake up. If we don't sleep, we wake up
and we're creating sugar and carbohydrates. We might feel stressed,
(11:32):
we get this brain fog, we don't perform well. But
a good night of sleep for most of us, that's
seven to nine hours, right, we'll set the foundation for
a healthy day.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
And what do you say to people that may not
think that this is all part of their health. And
I would say, and we've talked about along the program
before more and more chronic disease, everything from diabetes to
hypertension to cardiac arrhythmias to diabetes is tied back to
not enough sleep.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Absolutely, if we don't sleep, our stress hormones will increase,
will rely more on caffeine, we eat more calories. There
are very clear studies that show that we will eat more.
Our hunger hormone grellin will increase if we don't sleep.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Right now, you know, I think one point that you
could chat about is when you're tired and you're run down,
You're not going to be that enthusiastic to go to
work and then go to the gym or get on
your bike and go for a ride. You're not going
to be that interested in spending thirty or forty minutes
(12:44):
trying to make dinner tonight. You're going to say, I
am so pooped out, I'm just going to go to
the drive through or called door dash.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
And that leads beautifully into my second habit. Ok So, breakfast, breakfast,
I think on breakfast, biggest fan. Okay, I love a
good breakfast because I've seen the impacts in my body
if maybe I'm running low on groceries, or I pick
up a muffin or a toaster waffle, I will crash
(13:14):
in two hours. And I think everyone listening can relate
to that exactly. But if I take an extra five minutes,
I crack some inexpensive eggs, maybe a piece of whole
wheat toast, I will be satiated. And I think everyone
listening will realize that they can reflect, and they realize
they too are satiated, have stable blood sugar, make better decisions,
(13:39):
and you can roll into lunch and not be a
ravenous animal.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Right right, And you know, actually the things, the things
you're talking about here, and and certain ideas for breakfast.
First of all, you're you're you're you're clear, and I
would agree with this. Stay away from the bagels, the muffins,
the you know, the pastries. Where surrounded by pastries. You
even go in for a coffee at Starbucks and there
(14:04):
is a mound of pastries and you're like.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Oh, they're a highly process so they never expire.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, am I going to be weak today? I'll get
my coffee. You know what, I deserve a muffin, No,
don't do it. But really, I think the best components
of a breakfast that are going to make you feel
full so that you're not crashing in two hours or
you're starving and then you go to the candy machine.
Is protein, things that are based in protein. And actually,
(14:30):
and we've talked about this recently, the new food pyramid
really is stressing protein. So you talk about eggs, I
love to talk about Greek yogurt, protein smoothies, cottage cheese,
and leftover dinner, which is never a bad idea, which
may have a piece of chicken, a piece of fish,
(14:50):
a little bit of beef and you just feel yourself
that way. What do you say? And you hear this
almost every day from our patients. I am too tired,
I am too busy to stop for breakfast. And I'm
sure people listening tonight are like, yeah, you know, I'm
sort of that way too. What do you say to
them when they just say, look, I'm checking out, I
(15:12):
don't have the time for breakfast.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I would say that it doesn't have to be complicated,
it doesn't have to be an hour ordeal. So I'm
a creature of habit every day without fail. I have
this little silicone egg bite maker, and I crack four
eggs into each hole and it's ninety seconds in the microwave.
Pop them out into a paper towel. That's four eggs,
probably twenty to thirty grams of protein, and it took
(15:35):
a minute and a half.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah. I think there is a general sense that making
these meals or I don't want to call it a snack,
but these smaller, sort of condensed meals take so much
more effort, and people just wig out and say I
can't do it. But when you break it down into
small pieces, it's.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Quite easy to do, absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
All right, So number three, what's your third hell tack
for a healthy.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
U Number three is staying hydrated. So we've slept well,
we've had a great breakfast. Now we're going to remember
that our eight ounces of coffee at breakfast and our
bottle of water at lunch is not enough. Right, It's
very I mean, it's so easy. And I'm guilty of
this too, getting busy and saying, man, I have not
(16:26):
had consumed any water today, And even just minimal dehydration
can have such tangible effects. You might have a little
brain fog, you might be a little more headachey, you
feel hungrier, and the reality is you're just thirsty. So
I and I think are I think you've seen all
(16:48):
these gigantic water bottles that seem to be very trendy.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Now, yes, maybe a little obnoxious, but it's okay.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
A little obnoxious, yes, but jump on the obnoxious water
bottle whack r. Just sit throughout the day. You will
your body will feel the effects. And I think as
it relates to healthy eating and portion control, you're also
going to eat when you're hungry and not when you're
thirsty exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And you know, we see a lot of patients that
are they work out in the field or they're outside seals,
and they're driving from point A to point B to
point C to point D, and well, you know, we'll
bring up the idea of of what do you do
while you're in the car between stops? And many times
it's they will pull into a gas station in by
(17:38):
a thirty two ounce gatorade or something like that, which
is really sort of defeating the purpose. But it's so
easy to at least attempt to pack with you three
or four bottles of water. And you could have a
little carry toad, put a little a little bit of
a ice pack in it, and you always have these
things available, I think, and I'm sure you could comment
(18:02):
on this. When you are when you are high and dry,
you have no food at your disposal, you don't have
anything to drink, the lowest common denominator. You're going for
the junk, you're going for the machine, and you make
bad choices. So it is as you said, and talk
about this planning. Planning really is the biggest obstacle here.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Yes, as we were talking about earlier, these things can
be simple, but you have to think about it. You
have to give it a little premeditation. So I'm gonna
really throw it on the audience. But if we fail
to plan, we plan to fail.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
I would say that, Yeah, I mean I think plan
plan to fail. Yeah, No, I think that's well said.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah, And that really leads me to into our next topic.
So rewinding, We've slept well, we've had a good breakfast,
We've made sure to drink water throughout the day. Lunch
time rolls around, and I think you and I have
heard so many times, well, well, I work and I
don't have time to go home and make lunch, so
(19:08):
I just go through the drive through. And okay, I
understand that, but I bet you have a lunch box
or your office might even have a refrigerator. So just
planning to bring a lunch and again, it does not
have to be that complicated. I try to practice what
I preach here. I have a turkey Monday through Friday
(19:32):
every day. It takes me two minutes to make. In
the morning. While I'm eating my breakfast, you have two
slices of quality bread, some turkey, whatever, lunch meat you're
feeling a little lettuce, maybe any other vegetable you have
in your fridge, and stick it in a lunch box.
And right there you have good quality carbohydrates, you have fiber,
(19:53):
and you have protein, and you have vegetables hidden in
there the simple sandwich.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And you know what I so much is that people
will work and depending on where they work, they may
work in a plant and it's not easy to get out.
But usually what happens there is some volunteer that will
say I'm making a lunch run, I am heading to
Chick fil A, am going somewhere, And basically you're turning
(20:19):
over your nutrition, your health intake to somebody else to say, oh,
oh everybody's getting that. Oh just get one more, get
one more, you know, deluxe burger, sandwich or whatever, and
then it comes back and you got the fries and
the hamburger and you feel terrible. So if you can expensive,
(20:42):
oh lord yeah, expensive, it totally is expensive. But to
take a little bit of planning and you and I
do it. And so it's not to say, oh, look, Stephanie's,
you know, such the ideal citizen or Joe Goilotti's doing.
But I think when you start doing this, it is
(21:03):
not that hard to do. And it's really all of this.
Your health depends on it. So when you're you know,
you're you're you're diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes,
you're overweight, you're having complications, the easiest thing is to
you know, dive in and you know, try to fix this. Stephanie,
(21:23):
what we're gonna do. We're gonna take a quick break here,
all right, you're really got so much to say. All Right,
we're gonna take a quick break with Stephanie Johnson, a
physician assistant with our practice Livery Specialists of Texas. Stay tuned.
A few more health tips to get out to everybody.
(21:44):
We'll break back. We appreciate your staying with us this
Sunday evening. Were here every Sunday between seven and a pm.
Don't forget to go to doctor Joegalotti dot com. You
could send me a message if you've got comments about
Stephanie Johnson and her health ideas. If we're missing anything,
(22:07):
send me a message doctor Joeglotti dot com. All right, Stephanie,
well we you know, just to recap if somebody is
just joining us, we're talking about sleep. We're talking about
a good breakfast with protein, staying away from the triple
frappucino sugar lated coffee drink. By the way, do you
(22:30):
drink coffee? Do you drink coffee?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
How do you take it? Are you just a you know,
just straight up? Or do you like the fancy fancy drink?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Two percent milk in my coffee? So either black coffee
or coffee with a little bit of milk. I don't
like it sweet, but a little creamy is pretty good.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Okay. We are talking about hydration, very very important. And
the last thing, the fourth health ideal here is really planning.
And I think, Stephanie, it is very fair to say
that all of our health and wellness is somehow tied
(23:10):
back to healing, to planning, not healing, well, we are healing,
but to planning, because you could look planning as far
as what time you go to sleep, planning as far
as do you have the ingredients to make breakfast or
to take a lunch, or to have a dinner when
(23:33):
you get home. And I know you said before when
you go grocery shopping, it has to be intentional. You
can't just walk in there and start plucking things off
the shelves. You really have to almost go in and say, Okay,
I'm shopping for three days, I'm shopping for seven days.
What are the seven breakfasts that I'm going to make?
(23:54):
Is it eggs every day? Is it oatmeal every day?
Explain that a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yeah, And Georgor Glotti, would you say that we have
become maybe a little bit spoiled? Dare I say that totally? Yeah,
in the fact that thinking every meal has to be
freshly made, five stars, right, gourmet, delicious, and definitely no leftovers, right,
I think we've become a little bit spoiled in that way.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Is as just as a group, well, you know, last
I'm trying to think when was it?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
What was.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yesterday? Was Friday? Okay, Friday night? I'm losing track of time.
Friday night, I got home a little ahead of my
wife and she was tied up. I wasn't quite sure
when she was going to come home. But one little
pet peeve of mine, I like to eat dinner sort
of at around the same time. I don't like to
(24:50):
eat late, you know, like.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Go I'm the same way, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
So I'm going to try, you know, between five and
six thirty. I'm going to try out of dinner. But anyway,
I I knew she probably was not going to be home,
and I said, and I texted her and I said, look,
I'm going to make something ahead. I'll have something on
the side for you just in case, you know, you
don't have anything. So all I did. All I did.
(25:13):
We had some leftover pasta from the day before, and
so all I did was I heated that up in
a pan. I took a can of sardines to ninety
nine to ninety nine at Central Market, broke that, broke
(25:34):
that into the frying pan, little olive oil. I heated
up the the leftover pasta, mixed it all together, threw
a little bit of garlic in there, and then I
added in some leftover fresh tomato. Sauce that I had
warmed that up, plated it out, and five to eight
(25:55):
minutes I had leftover pasta. I had my Omega three
fatty acids, and my superfood sardines and I was happy.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
That was it. And that was probably three dollars and
fifty cents.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah not, yes, yes, I would. I would say that.
So are you going to find that at a diner
or a restaurant, you know, sardines and leftover pasta? Probably not.
But it was nutritious, it was easy, and it was good.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yes, And there is nothing wrong with something that might
be a little bit unconventional that tastes fine to you,
right and is within your nutritional goals and budget. I
think we need to become a lot more flexible with.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
That, right. And I would say the one thing, and
this goes back to my college days, making a menu.
Making a menu can write it out, or you could
have it in your head to say, Okay, Monday night,
we're going to have you know, baked chicken. Tuesday night,
we'll have enough chicken. We'll put it on a salad.
The next day, we're going to make a soup or whatever.
(26:56):
So it it all comes down to planning, all Rightnumber five,
what's up your sleeve in number five?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yes, so we've talked a lot about nutrition. Number five
is movement, exercise, physical activity, whatever we want to call it.
Movement is medicine. And it's so essential that we move
our bodies every day in some form. And again, like food,
(27:25):
we don't have to overcomplicate it. Movement does not have
to be heated upside down yoga class. Movement can be
taken the dog around the block, or kicking a soccer
ball around with your kids outside. Sure, and whatever that
means for you, just this simple fact is that your
(27:45):
body is moving. Maybe your breath picks up, or your
heart rate picks up, your muscles are moving, but maybe
whatever that is for you, a little bit every day
is so health promoting.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, And I would say for people that are not
exercising a lot right now, you don't want to get hurt.
You want to gradually increase over weeks to months. And again,
you cannot make up in a week bad habits that
you neglected for years to think, oh, you have to exercise,
(28:17):
and I heard this Stephanie and doctor Galotti and I
have to And then you heard yourself. I think it is,
and here it's planning. You have to ride it out
to say, Okay, for these two weeks, I'm going to
just ride my bike for fifteen minutes after work and
then move it up to twenty and then on the
weekend I'm going to get adventurous and go for a
(28:38):
forty five or fifty minute bike ride on a trail.
So far, and there's no doubt that every study for
the past forty years is going to say exercise cuts
down on your risk of dementia and alzheimer it's going
to cut down on the risk of diabetes and heart disease,
chronic disease, and so it's important. But I would say also,
(29:01):
which you're familiar with some degree of strength training, you
have to I don't want to say pump iron, but
you have to use strength training in some at some aspect.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yes, our skeletal muscle is so protective and increased skeletal
muscle is directly tied to increase in lifespan. You don't
have to go out and be Arnold Schwarzenegger and learn
all of the Olympic lifts.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I've talked with patients who work in construction and they're
and they're lifting and they're pushing and they're pulling all day.
That's beautiful, right, It can be. It can be simple
gardening using a shovel, using a rake, the pushing and
the pulling. That's exactly what we want.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Right And I would say it's there's so many resources
out there for people to get advice on these various exercises,
be it strength training, but it is something that without
a doubt, the sort of the the the hurdle to
start exercising should be pretty pretty low, but it is important. Now,
(30:08):
I did ask you for a bonus. We went over
the five and we're giving you an extra few minutes here.
What would you say, is that special six that you
really did.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I'm so glad you did because this this bonus wouldn't
have meet the top five, but the more that I
reflect on it, it should. My bonus is it's social connection. Okay,
social relationships, and I think everyone listening can attest to
this are really declining, and there's data to prove this.
(30:45):
As we're more ingrained in social media and in computers,
we have a lot of interaction through a screen, interaction
through typed words, but we're lacking the deep interpersonal connection
that is linked with lower rates of depression, lower stress,
longer lifespan, and just correlated with general better overall health.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
No, that is true. I find that there are more
people isolated, living alone, not really connecting. And the one thing.
So a lot of our patients will say, the reason
I do not cook, the reason I do not make
a scratch meal most nights is because it's just me.
It's just me, and you know what I tell them,
(31:33):
and you know we have to work to try and
help our patients. I say, look, do you have any friends.
If you live in an apartment, do you have other
colleagues friends in the apartment, Make dinner with them a
couple of nights a week, get them to get say
come to my place, I'll come to your place. Or
(31:53):
if there's a common space where there's a little grill outside,
try and do that so that you're eating together, you
have conversation, you're enjoying a meal, joining enjoying company.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yes, And I would almost like to challenge the audience
as we wrap up, to use this bonus of social
connectivity and tie it into something else we were talking about.
Maybe it's exercise, go on a walk with a friend,
instead of being seated on the couch talking on the phone.
Say hey, it's Saturday morning, the weather's nice, Let's go
(32:27):
on a walk around the park while we catch up.
It's so beneficial. It's two birds one stone. You're also
going to be more engaged in the conversation. You're going
to have a great experience. And that is just so
health promoting doing something.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
And I think the other thing with social connectivity, which
is people take it for granted or they don't realize
how important it is. We need a pretty good level
of accountability. So if you are starting, you are starting
a new nutrition plan where you're going to be more
(33:07):
engaged with shopping, doing a little bit of meal prepping,
some of the things you were talking about. You have
to be accountable to some other person to say a Stephanie,
how is your meal prepping going? What tell me about
amala've made? You've tried sardines and pasta tonight? Or absolutely
you know your workout routine. So you have to draw
(33:29):
people into your inner circle in a way for the
outcome of better health. I'm going to give you the
final word, Stephanie, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Absolutely, So, just as we close, going back to the
fact that getting healthy doing things that are healthier does
not have to be complicated, right. In fact, it should
not be complicated. So making things simple, a good night's sleep,
a really solid protein rich breakfast, sipping on your water
(34:05):
throughout the day, being intentional about what you're going to
eat throughout the day, getting a little physical activity in it,
and remembering to throughout your day, to reach out to
your tribe, to talk with people at work about things
that are not work related. To strike at connections at
a grocery store. That is the most help promoting tip
(34:27):
that I can leave the audience with.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I would one hundred percent agree. All right, Stephanie Johnson,
physician assistant at Liver Specialists of Texas. We will be
hearing more of you this year. So thanks for tonight
and keep up the good earth wonderful Thank you, Stephanie,
good night, All right, everybody. Final segment for tonight's Your
(34:52):
Health First is coming up. Don't forget doctor Joegalotti dot com.
And if you have any comments about what Stephanie said
other ideas, we certainly want to hear from you doctor
Joeglotti dot com. Stay tuned, we'll bright back. Final segment
of this week's Your Health First. I want to thank
Stephanie Johnson for coming on giving her insight on various
(35:14):
health and wellness strategies. It really is important, and I
would say if you take anything away from what she said,
it's it's going to be planning. Plan what you're going
to eat, Plan your exercise, Plan that you have enough water,
(35:36):
Plan that you shop properly, Plan that you get to
bed early or earlier, and you plan to have a
good night sleep. Plan that exercise and shopping is all
part of it. Sounds easy, but if you plan, you
(35:58):
can do it all right. In the first segment of
the program, we were chatting about gut health, and I
would like to think that all of you, all of
the great Your Health First listeners, should be PhDs in
gut health. I do, I do truly believe that. So
(36:23):
we talked early about fiber. The magic number for fiber
is thirty five to forty grams of dietary fiber a day.
You cannot get this by going to the store tonight
or tomorrow and just packing in the fiber. You're going
to have to gradually plan. Need I say that to
(36:44):
incorporate that amount of fiber into your diet through the day.
Startwood breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner,
maybe a light snack after dinner, not too late. We
don't want you to go in to bed on a
full stomach. But fiber is key. It nourishes the intestinal microbiome,
(37:08):
the trillion or so bacteria that keep us healthy, that
fight inflammation and keep us healthy. If you little hack here,
you will get about seventeen grams of fiber with a
serving of beans or lagomes, black beans, black eyed peas,
kidney beans, garbonzo beans, lentils. So if you have two
(37:31):
servings of beans a day, that's thirty four grams right
there your home. But again, you want to get the berries,
the apples, the pair is, the avocado, the artichokes, all
that good stuff into your diet. But you have to
start slow. That's the main thing. Number two. Outside of
fiber for good gut health, you want to eat fermented foods.
(37:53):
Now you're probably saying, what the heck of fermented foods, yogurt, keifer, kombucha.
I've started drinking kombucha lately, and these fomented foods can
really you know, people like to say. It seeds your
gut with beneficial bacteria, and they also have compounds that
(38:16):
reduce inflammation throughout the body and maintain a healthy gut lining.
I think if you're not eating Greek yogurt, start to
do it. Now. A lot of people drink keifer. I
will buy keifer and throw it into my smoothie. I
don't put that much in. I'll put maybe I don't know,
(38:37):
half cup or so changes the uh taste of it.
You could add a little honey, a little fruit to
it to take take the edge off. It is a
little sharp in taste. A keifer, all right. Number three
for good health, follow the Mediterranean diet. Now why is that, Well,
(38:59):
it's it will always emphasize fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legomes, nuts.
These are all things high in fiber, fish, olive, oil, herbs.
Nothing processed here. And Number one, lots of research has
(39:20):
been done over the past forty years on the Mediterranean
diet cutting down on hypertension, diabetes, lower your cholesterol. And
they found that people that are on the Mediterranean diet
have less symptoms related to irritable bowel, which is a
(39:42):
good thing. And of course we know a Mediterranean diet
with all those fiber, the fruits, the vegetables, the whole grains,
the nuts, the beans, is going to cut down on
chronic constipation, which is a whole other can of worms
to open up. Number three for a good gut health,
regular sleep is what Stephanie said, and a breakfast routine,
(40:10):
So you have to keep this circadian rhythm going with
your brain and your gut. When your sleep, your gut
is quiet. When you wake up, your intestines start contracting
and moving around. Then many times when you get up
you have a bowel movement. So if your sleep schedule
is inconsistent, which means you go to sleep and wake
(40:33):
up at different times, this may trigger a worsen gut
symptoms like constipation, diarrhea, of bloating, and reflux. And so
getting that sleep pattern into a regular routine. And also
it's going to help if you have breakfast soon after
you wake up, because eating will stimulate your gut to contract.
(40:56):
The whole host of hormones and nerves that get stimulated
in get sleep, eat at a regular time. And number five,
exercise movement helps the gut move walking, jogging, swimming, muscular contractions.
It is all good for your gut. Lastly, well not
(41:19):
really lastly, but number six, go easy on alcohol. Alcohol
really does rip up the lining of your stomach. It
could upset your small bal The less alcohol you drink,
the better your gut health is going to be. Regular
drinking will worsen or cause acid reflux, gas bloating, diarrhea,
(41:45):
worst case scenario intestinal bleeding. Alcohol puts you at list
risk for colorectal cancer. And what I do, liver disease
all part of the gut. So cut down or eliminate alcohol.
And lastly, this is our you know, sort of punch
for colon cancer. The new age for colon cancer screening
(42:11):
is at forty five, assuming you have no risk factors
or no family history. So at forty five it's not
fifty anymore. Fifty is old. It is forty five years old.
You got you have to get screened for colon cancer.
And so as we go through this, I say this
all the time. If you want to reach out to me,
go to doctor Joeglotti dot com, send me an email,
you call our office. We are here as a resource
(42:36):
for our listeners and the community to make you all
better consumers and make you all healthy. All right, thank
you very much for tuning in this Sunday. I do
hope that you all got a few takeaways from Stephanie
Johnson and the Gut Health and don't forget go to
(42:59):
our website doctor Joegilotti dot com and you know what,
seven o'clock Sunday night. Next Sunday will be back. Have
a great week.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
You've been listening to Your Health First with doctor Joe Glotti.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
For more information on this program or the content of
this program, go to your Health First dot com.
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